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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Jocelyn Geboy <smussyolay@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Re: been thinkin' bout Alkaline Trio (and i was thinkin' about FOW) |
| Date | Tue, 2 Sep 2003 22:02:17 -0700 (PDT) |
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~~~as usual, you rock my world. why aren't you writing
for a rock mag?
i've heard OF this alkaline trio band. i didn't know
shit about them. you make me want to check them out
NOW. your writing always makes me happy. with your
mastery of metaphor to literary allusion, you never
fail to strike the perfect mixture of intellectual
emotionality in me.
jocelyn, who was watching MTV at 2:30 AM and saw them
go from limp biskit to brand new (??) to r. kelly to
jason mraz. YEAH! this IS what america wants. videos
on MUSIC television. all sorts, blending into one
another. knowing if you don't like this one, there'll
be another in 3-5 minutes. i was mesmerized. (for
those who care to, keep..TRL. real world. maybe one
other show. a dating one. i don't know. that's it. the
rest, all videos. i don't think they can go wrong.)
however, i didn't see stacy's mom until a couple
nights later. needful to say, i enjoyed the r. kelly
video much better. i had no expectations of that.
hell, i didn't even KNOW that song. thoing thoing or
something. but, it, like many videos of my early MTV
days, was interesting to watch and held my attention
visually. stacy's mom? whoa. i had no idea. i
suppose it held my attention...but i just had other
expectations of FOW. something that actually had THEM
in it...something a little less... graphic? i mean...
this was hot for teacher on meth.
oh well. i had at least hoped for seeing more of the
band, for heaven's sake.
jocelyn (again)
--- kcronin <fiatluxury@yahoo.com> wrote:
> howdy all:
>
> been thinking about my top 20 and am quite sure i
> wouldn't make it to 20, since most of what i've been
> indulging in is not eligible for the year's
> best...but
> this train o thought led me to how much i've
> delighted
> in the alkaline trio cd "good mourning" this whole
> summer, and why that might be. sure it's
> straightforward punk-pop in the Blink 182 vein, as
> every reviewer has said, but it's the lyrical
> conceit,
> carried through the whole cd, that make em standout
> in
> the field of copycat anthem writers.
>
> someplace after frankenstein, edward gorey, harlan
> ellison, and the twilight zone, but before freddy
> krueger, the spooky cobwebbed backyard of death and
> dark mysteries got exposed to the cold light of
> irony,
> and some mighty fertile literary ground got
> scortched
> in the process. Alkaline Trio recultivates this
> muddy
> backpatch with ringing, joyful shouts at the devil
> in
> a lingo Lucifer might actually sing along to: "Good
> Mourning" is the title, and the name says it all.
> Shrouded in the black-n-red bubblegoth ethos of
> high-school Lestat fans, this music prevents
> self-parody with absolutely heartfelt sentiments,
> and
> the shredded urgent caw of singer Matt Skiba (whose
> vocal chords, it is rumored, are being devoured by
> acid reflux owing to too much rocknroll living, and
> how punk rock is that?). His songs and singing,
> along
> with the smoother vampyre-seductive stylings of
> bassist Daniel Andriano, make it clear that this
> subject matter fits him like a pair of beloved black
> Docs: what might have been average powerpop/punk
> turns into an intriguing study of how pain and rage
> in
> a major chord can be deeply affecting, with just a
> little bit of self-awareness to keep the irony at
> bay.
>
> The music itself is not overly imaginative, though
> very well done: an adreneline-driven heartbeat
> pumping life into bloodied corpses of sour
> relationships and cities that won't let you leave.
> I
> think I've mentioned "All on Black" here before, my
> fave from this one: also love "Fatally Yours" with
> the
> memorable lines, "You crashed your car through my
> front door/I pulled you from the wreckage/You told
> me
> that you missed me/ but you meant with the grill and
> hood." Apparently, as I work my way through the
> back
> catalog, this is just refined essence of what
> they've
> been doing since '97 - the one prior cd has a song
> called "Dying Tomorrow" that is actually a last
> checklist of things he hopes he's done with his
> life,
> and jubilant as hell, for a song about dying. I saw
> these guys at an outdoor festival here in chicago,
> their nominal hometown (they live in Cali now, i
> believe) and befitting emissaries from the
> netherworld, the following was devoted, cult-like,
> raucous and young young young; the band apologized
> for
> it not being an all ages show and dedicated it to
> everyone "who was at the Fireside shows, man!"
> meaning
> the popular all-ages venue, mostly punk, in town.
> Despite the obvious troubles Matt was having with
> his
> voice, the show was exhilarating, and well worth
> voiding my self-imposed Outdoor Festival moratorium,
> and in general made me think it would do this body
> good to get out and rock amongst the 18 year olds
> more
> often.
>
> anyway, just some musings from my year-in-pop, which
> was pretty woeful, i must admit. but if you're
> looking for something catchy to whistle on your way
> past the graveyard, you could do much worse than
> this
> hemlock-flavored bubblegum punk - go on, try it.
> Life
> is short.
>
> --kelly
>
> =====
> arma non servant modum
>
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